Conservative funding for the 3rd link: a “drunkard’s promise” from Pierre Poilievre, believes Bruno Marchand

Bruno Marchand still believes that the federal government will be there to finance the tramway, and believes that the Conservative promise to inject sums into the third link is “a drunkard’s promise”.

• Also read: Funding for the Quebec tramway: the $1.44 billion from the federal government is not guaranteed, conservatives insist

Despite the repeated intentions by the federal Conservatives not to inject money into the tramway and instead to reserve the sums for the third link, the mayor of Quebec said he was convinced that the amounts will remain on the table. “I think the federal government is going to be there. The federal government must be there.”

He recalled that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives had promised to participate in the financial arrangements for the Videotron Center.

Absent from the Videotron Center

“They haven’t been there. It’s easy to say: “We won’t be there for the tramway and we will be there for the third link.” This last project has a much longer timetable. “It’s easy to say, ‘I’m going to be there, but on to the next step. I promise I’ll stop drinking, but tomorrow.” It’s a drunkard’s promise.”

Guilbault

According to him, the two projects should not be pitted against each other. “It’s not one or the other.” Furthermore, he was not offended by the fact that the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, insisted on the third link, without mentioning the tramway, on the first day of the CAQ back-to-school caucus. This does not make him doubt the government’s commitment. “I don’t need Mr.^me Guilbault repeats it every week.”

Furthermore, the mayor has not requested a meeting with Mr. Poilievre, but he plans to meet all the parties during the campaign.

Reactions

Affirming that “it would be a tragedy” to lose federal funds dedicated to the tramway, Claude Villeneuve, leader of Quebec First, added that he “does not believe that the funds currently reserved for the tramway will go to a 3rd link » in the event of the election of a conservative government.

Jackie Smith, head of Transition Québec, said she agreed with the mayor of Lévis, Gilles Lehouillier, who recently described the 3rd link as a political “lure”. “Welcome to reality, Mr. Lehoullier. It’s been clear for a long time that it’s an illusion,” she said.

— With the collaboration of Taïeb Moalla